blogging

Reader Appreciation!

Woot! I’m thrilled that my new writing buddy Kristina Perez passed the Reader Appreciation Award to me for my blog!

Kristina and I met during WriteOnCon, a fabulous (and free!) online conference for writers, and she’s already given me great feedback on my ms and shared the beginning of one of her intriguing mss with me. Maybe even cooler, I loved the fact that she’s jumped out of a plane! (one of the Things on her Seven Things About Me list)

On that note, Seven Not-Previously-Shared Things About Kip:

  1. I haven’t jumped out of a plane, but I took flying lessons for a while. My favorite skill was the touch-and-go, where you come in for a landing and then take off again right away. So fun!
  2. I’ve also driven a tank, flown in a helicopter, and fired some interesting weapons. ***
  3. My parents didn’t allow me to have Barbie dolls. Instead, I had the “Sunshine Family,” complete with hippie van.
  4. My idea of a fun night is to make a meal from a book, like the pommes à l’huile with fresh bread and a tall, cold beer from Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast, and read the scene out loud to unsuspecting diners. 
  5. I would feel very uncomfortable living anywhere that required a car. I have a car, but I like to be able to get around without it.
  6. I didn’t learn to swim or speak Spanish until I was a grown-up, but I do both quite well now.
  7. ***I was in the Army! For reals. It feels like another life, though.

As outlined in the rules for this blog award, I’m now passing it on to 5 other writers whose blogs I adore.

Michelle Mason

Elodie aka @commutinggirl

Angelina Hansen

Shari Green

Bethany Smith

The full Rules of the Game (for those I’ve nominated):

1. Identify and show appreciation to the blogger who nominated you.
2. You must add the reward logo to your blog.
3. Tell your readers 7 things about yourself.
4. You must nominate 5-10 of your favourite bloggers for this award.
5. Inform you nominees that you nominated them.

It’s a cinch, right?

Sweet!

Since Kris Asselin passed on the Irresistibly Sweet Blog Award to me last week, I’m following the rules by:

        1. I love languages. I’m a native speaker of English, pretty fluent in German and Spanish, and I can get by in French and Dutch. I would really love to learn Japanese someday.
        2. I got engaged to my cute Spanish husband in Valencia, Spain, and we got married in a castle!
        3. States and countries where I have lived: Massachusetts, Idaho, Connecticut, Kansas, New York, Germany, Pennsylvania, Austria, and Virginia. Boston is one of my favorite cities in the world, but I’d love to live in Spain someday. The next countries on my list to visit are India, Indonesia, and Japan.
        4. When I was little, I was a Very Picky Eater. My favorite food was spaghetti with butter, and I refused to eat such things as onions, strawberries and tomatoes. Now I love everything from artichokes to octopus. Yum!
        5. I have always loved reading. The first book I read on my own was HOP ON POP, and my favorite books growing up were the LITTLE HOUSE, DANCING SHOES, and ANNE OF GREEN GABLES series, and then anything by Madeline L’Engle and Judy Blume. In grad school, I fell in love with the dead poet Rainer Maria Rilke, then wrote my dissertation about his work. My favorite more recent books include THE BOOK THIEF, SECRET KEEPER, MATCHED, LOVE, AUBREY, and HOW I LIVE NOW.
        6. Alternate careers I have considered: ballerina, fighter pilot, professor, and rock guitarist.
        7. I drink a bowl (BOWL!) of espresso with milk every morning.